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Address by President Mary McAleese on the occasion of her visit to scoil Mhuire junior school

Address by President Mary McAleese on the occasion of her visit to scoil Mhuire junior school, BALLYMANY, Newbridge

Reverend Father, ladies, gentlemen and children, I am delighted to be here today and to have this opportunity of meeting you all but especially of meeting the boys and girls of Scoil Mhuire, of talking to you and hearing from you.

In your classes, you learn about our country and how it is governed. Perhaps some of you could even name the members of the Government, your TDs and local representatives - don’t worry, I’m not going to test you! But maybe you have thought of the President as someone remote, someone you would not meet. I wanted to give you that opportunity and I wanted to have the opportunity to meet you in return.

I am very interested in hearing about the projects in which you are involved. We are all very fortunate to live in such a beautiful country, but a country does not stay beautiful unless care is taken of it. I can see from your displays that you understand this. I know that your school has previously won many environmental awards and you should be very proud of that. You have kept up the good work by becoming leaders in recycling newspapers, cans, cartons and plastics. People of my generation have a lot to learn from you – so keep up the good work.

However important it is to care for our environment, it is equally important that we care for the other people who occupy our small globe. We are all – wherever we live in the world - brothers and sisters in the human family and each equal in the eyes of God. But not everyone is equally fortunate. Not everyone has a happy home, a good school, enough to eat. Many children living in poorer countries need our help. That is why your Globe Day - on which you collect money to help provide food and education to the poor in India, Africa and other countries – is so important. You are showing us the importance of being generous, of sharing our good fortune with those who have less. You are showing that we who have a lot are not mean and selfish, but caring and giving.

Not content with all of that, I know you have also given wonderful help, through collecting money once a week on “Doggie Day” for the Kildare Animal Foundation which looks after the welfare of homeless dogs from all over County Kildare. All of this involves work and sacrifice both for you the pupils, for your teachers and parents and you deserve great credit for this.

I noticed that another theme that is highlighted in the work of the school is that of books. I am glad to hear that you have a well stocked library and that every encouragement is being given to reading in the school. Reading is so important. When you grow older you will really appreciate the importance of books -they open new worlds, new ideas to us all. We need never be lonely if we have a good book. In his memoir Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt describes his poverty stricken childhood in Limerick fifty years ago. But despite the hunger and despair he often endured the thing which changed his life and gave him hope was the library full of books and windows onto another world. They became his passport to a new, better life.

I would like to pay special tribute to all of the teachers in the school. You have such a crucial role to play in nurturing the talents of our children, in allowing their unique gifts to blossom, in helping unfold the full intellectual, social, emotional and spiritual potential in each one. It is a difficult but rewarding task, and I have only to look around me here today to see how exceptionally well you have succeeded in this school. The parents and pupils of Scoil Mhuire are lucky to have you.

I am glad to see the Parents’ Association represented here today. A Parents’ Association is an invaluable resource and support to a school. Parents and teachers working together can achieve immeasurably more than teachers working on their own. Children need to see that their parents and their teachers are working together, that they are co-operating and that they are supportive of one another. In this changing world, it is hard being a parent but then again – as I know myself – nothing can measure up to the joy of seeing children growing up as well-educated, rounded and happy individuals. They say ‘what is learnt in childhood is engraved on stone’. We parents, teachers – we are the engravers in those fragile early years. If we engrave well, give the child a great start – and as they say in Irish – ‘Tús maith is leath na hoibre’ a good start is half the work. That’s what you give your children here in this partnership between home, school and community – a good – a very good start.

Finally, may I thank the Board of Management, especially the Chairperson Eileen Hall, the Principal, Bryan O’Reilly, the staff and the children for their welcome for me today.